Letter: Laws and character are the best defense against guns

A file photo of guns and other items seized by the Midland County Sheriff's Department.

The following is a letter to the editor that was sent to the Kalamazoo Gazette.

REV. DAVE KNAPP/Climax

Alan Lust says, “no law will protect us from us,” and “it isn’t law but character that makes a difference” in a response to an April column, I wrote. I agree with him about the importance of focusing on character development, but we will have to disagree about the current need for better gun control measures, such as in closing the “gun show loophole” in regards to background checks.

The second U.S. president, John Adams, is credited with the statement, “We are a nation of laws and not of men.” While good laws do not guarantee “the general welfare” of any populace, they are an important contributing factor to the general welfare, as are things like character, maturity and integrity, of which Lust commendably spoke.

And while we are all working on our character development, laws help to hold in check our capacity to do ill to our fellow man and woman.

I don’t completely trust myself. That’s why I try to avoid circumstances in which I tend to be weak and subject to temptation. This is why legal accountability has to be factored into the equation for leaders, institutions, corporations, and citizens — from the preacher to the gun owner. Gun owners who do not want to be accountable to reasonable gun laws that promote the general welfare are asking for more freedom and trust than they have a right to.